The One With the Blast From the Past
by PhoenixRisingOnTheMoon
Summary: When a spell gone wrong brings past versions of Regina and Emma to Storybrooke, the current versions are surprised to find that their past selves are less than impressed with their future relationships. Written for Swan Queen Week Day 3: Time Travel


A/N: This takes place around the end season 4 ish, I guess. No main villain is attacking and Emma didn't become the Dark One.

* * *

" _A time for everything, and to everything its place. Take what has been moved through time and space_."

* * *

Following her recent lack of magic lessons with Regina due to scheduling difficulties on the brunette's part, Emma started binge watching the reruns of _Charmed_ on TNT. It started out as "They can do magic, I can do magic… it's like a form of research" and turned into "When the hell are Piper and Leo going to get their happy ending?"

As she watched each episode, she took into her mind the spells that they used, and wondered if they would work in the real world.

When the finale aired once more on the television and the reruns started back at season 1, one of Emma's favorite episodes aired— "That '70s Episode"— in which the sisters travel back in time and meet their child aged counterparts.

At the end of the episode when they all started to chant the spell that would return the three sisters to their rightful time, Emma started to recite the words with them.

" _A time for everything, and to everything its place. Take what has been moved through time and space_."

Little did Emma know, the tingling she felt course through her body wasn't just her feet falling asleep.

* * *

" _Uh, Emma, could you come down to the sheriff's station? We have a… we have a bit of an issue_."

Emma didn't know why she was surprised at the sight that greeted her when she walked into the station that afternoon. It was Storybrooke, after all. Shit like this happened all the time.

"At least your sense of fashion has… _somewhat_ improved."

"As rude as ever, _Madame Mayor_."

"Not as rude as that red jacket of yours is to the fashion industry."

Emma stared dumbly at the two bickering in the jail cell, her mouth slowly dropping at the sight.

Clicking heels behind her announced the arrival of another person. "Do tell me, Snow, what was so important that I had to stop—"

Emma heard the intake of breath as Regina stepped forward, her gaze attached to the… arguing copies of them.

"Leroy was working in the mines when he said they appeared out of thin air," Snow explained.

Emma snapped out of her trance-like state and took a few steps toward the cell. The Emma and Regina standing in the cell watched her every movement. "What's the last thing you two remember?"

"We were trying to stop the trigger from destroying Storybrooke," the Emma in the cell explained. "One moment we're combining our magic and weakening the bomb-diamond, next thing we know, we're standing in the middle of your mines, with no trigger in sight."

"That was almost two years ago," Snow said softly from behind Emma. "Right before Greg and Tamara kidnapped Henry and took him to Neverland."

The Regina in the cell's eyes widened. "Kidnapped Henry?"

"It's fine, we got him back," Emma quickly said. Her forehead creased as she looked at the two in the cell. "First thing's first— we gotta find something to call you guys, because I have a feeling this is going to get real confusing real fast. I'm just going to pick the easy route and call you Swan and Mills."

Swan snorted. "Sounds like the title of a cop show."

Regina walked up next to Emma. "If they really are from our past, we need to figure out how they got here, and how to get them back before we do something to mess up the timeline." She shot a fake smile at Emma. "Because we know how good you are at that."

Emma huffed. "I said I was sorry!"

Mills narrowed her eyes. "Time travel is supposed to be impossible. It defies the laws of magic."

"Yeah, well your sister managed to break that law," Emma grumbled.

"My _what_?"

"Emma!" Regina snapped. "Stop revealing things to them that they shouldn't know!"

"Sorry," Emma muttered. She turned to Mills. "You'll find out eventually."

The door to the station burst open and slow paced footsteps could be heard sauntering down the hall. "Emma, love, I come bearing the overcooked cow on bread from Granny's!"

Hook appeared with two to-go bags in his hands. He took in the sight before him and raised his eyebrows with a slow whistle. "Well, what do we have here?"

Mills scoffed. "You're still alive?" She turned to her counterpart. "How is it that you haven't killed him yet? Or at least cut off his other hand…"

He faked a blow to the heart. "Oh, Regina, you wound me." He smirked and walked to Emma, holding out one of the bags. "So, would someone like to explain what's going on here?"

Emma accepted the bag from him. "They're our past selves from about two years ago, right before we sailed off to Neverland."

Hook smirked once more as he plopped himself into the unoccupied deputy's chair. "Ah, I remember that trip very distinctly. You couldn't keep your hands off me."

Swan snorted. "I'm sure that's _exactly_ what happened." She paced up to the bars and leaned onto them, mirroring the only other time she'd been in the cell the night after her first arrival. "Trust me, Hook, I wouldn't lower my standards to the likes of you."

Silence descended on the room. Snow coughed and looked down at the ground as Emma's face grew slightly red. Regina, for her part, was smiling almost proudly at Swan.

Swan noticed her counterpart's look. "Are you… did you really…?" She glared at Emma. " _Why_?"

Emma looked slightly ashamed. "I… it's a long story."

"It's not that long, love," Hook said, his cocky smirk still present. He turned to face the cell. "She practically threw herself at me in Neverland, and then tried to deny it, but after months of pursuing her, I finally got her when I told her I sold my ship for her."

Mills raised her eyebrows and shook her head, laughing slightly. "Just when I thought the future you might have improved a little…"

Emma thought she heard Swan mutter something about agreeing with Mills for once. Had she really disappointed her past self? Shouldn't her past self be looking forward to the future with hope instead of disgust?

"Funny, I thought the same thing myself," Regina said to Mills, a smug grin on her face.

"What do you mean you thought the same thing?" Emma asked. "I thought we were friends. Friends support each other in their relationships."

Mills snorted. "Friends? You two are friends?" She let out a small cackle. "If you two really _are_ friends, then you wouldn't be dating him in the first place after what he did to me."

Emma tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean by 'after what he did to you'?"

Mills raised her eyebrows and turned to Regina. "You never told her?"

Regina shrugged, suddenly seeming smaller as she wrapped her arms around herself. "There was never a time or place to discuss it. After it happened, there was so much going on and there never seemed to be a calm moment to bring it up, and after a while it seemed irrelevant considering how much time had passed." She sighed. "And then of course she started dating him, and I didn't want to ruin… what they had… by telling her what happened."

"What happened?" Emma asked, walking to stand by the brunette.

"Like I said, it's irrelevant now," Regina said, shrugging again.

"I'll tell her," Mills said, straightening up with an air of superiority, despite the fact that she was still behind bars. "To put it bluntly, your _boyfriend_ over there helped Greg and Tamara capture me and torture me nearly to death."

Emma's eyes widened and she turned to Hook, who, rightfully, looked a little ashamed. "You _what_?" She marched forward and grabbed his arm, dragging him out of the room, snapping, "We need to talk" as they exited.

"You shouldn't have told her," Regina said softly, giving an ineffective glare to the brunette in the cell.

"Why not?" Mills snapped.

"Because she shouldn't look down on him for his past actions. I'm trying to show everyone that I'm ready to redeem myself, and he should have the same chance."

"No he shouldn't," Swan interrupted. "Maybe it's just because it was a more recent event in our timeline, but it shouldn't just be swept under the rug. Didn't he say that she—I—kiss him in, like, a week in Neverland?" She scoffed. "Trust me, one week of pretending to be a hero isn't a real redemption."

Regina shook her head. "You don't understand. There just… there wasn't time to tell her. And by the time we had a chance to sit and breathe, she had entered a relationship with him. She… she seemed happy. And I wasn't going to ruin her happiness by telling her."

Mills tilted her head. "Oh God," she muttered. "You're in love with her, aren't you?"

"What?!" Swan exclaimed.

Silence descended on the room as Regina neither denied nor affirmed Mills' statement.

Snow spoke up for the first time in minutes, surprising everyone by reminding them of her presence in the room. "I'm… I'm going to go see if Emma and Hook are… what they're up to…" She weakly said, exiting the room and leaving the other three women alone.

"She can never know," Regina softly said as she took a seat in the vacated chair by the deputy's desk. She shot a glare towards the cell. "And I swear if you tell her—"

"You'll destroy us if it's the last thing you do?" Mills asked with a smirk.

"Can we not destroy anybody?" Emma asked as she reentered the room. Hook didn't follow her in.

"Finally canned the pirate?" Mills asked, with a glint of humor in her voice.

Emma sighed. "Yes, I did. Are you all happy now?" Without waiting for an answer, she continued on. "We need to send you two back before we mess up your timeline any further, and before you mess up ours again." She turned to Regina. "Do you have any idea what this could be?"

Regina shook her head. "Time travel was thought to be impossible before the incident with Zelena. This doesn't have the same… feeling as that, though. It feels more like someone… attempted to alter time itself."

Emma's eyes widened. "Uh oh."

Regina glared at her. "What did you do?"

"So… I may or may not be binge watching _Charmed_ for the second time in a row," Emma stated slowly. "And I may or may not have recited a spell along with them during an episode…" Her eyes lighted up. "Oh! Which means I may have a solution!" She grabbed a piece of paper and pen off of the deputy's desk and wrote the spell down before handing it to the Emma in the cell. "This is probably going to be really dumb sounding, but try reciting this with me at the same time."

"Okay…" Swan said uncertainly as she took the paper.

Unbeknownst to the two Emmas, Mills caught Regina's gaze and mouthed "Tell her" to the woman, who paused before nodding.

"Ready… go," Emma stated.

" _A time for everything, and to everything its place. Take what has been moved through time and space_."

With a bright flash of magic, Swan and Mills disappeared, the note with the spell fluttering down to the ground.

"Well that was a lot easier than I thought it would be," Emma mumbled. She turned to Regina. "You okay?"

The brunette nodded. "As okay as I can be. And you?"

Emma nodded as well, looking down at her feet. "I'm… I'm doing good. I guess… my breakup with Hook was coming for a while now anyway." She looked back up at Regina. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Emma…" Regina began. She took a deep breath. "There's… there's a lot we need to talk about. Would you mind joining me for dinner tonight so I can… explain everything?"

Emma smiled. "I'd love to."


End file.
